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The snow has finally melted away uncovering the sidewalks and revealing things. I’ve always found it curious that people like to use the bases of lamposts as a canvas. In our neighborhood, it is a common sight to see embellished lamposts.

I liked that the bike chain left on the post was covered in pink velvet

Elaborate lampost art on the Mosaic Trail on the left. And a whimsical Harry Potter tag on the right

The master of the adorned lampost is Jim Power, aka, the Mosaic Man. Jim is a neighborhood artist that has been working in the community for decades. You can learn about him and support his on-going project by going to The Mosaic Man – Jim Power and his Mosaic Trail.

I ran into Jim last summer while he was out working on the Mosaic Trail

You can walk down a street in New York for years and be familiar with every bump in the sidewalk, when all of the sudden, you will glance up and spot an elaborate cornice on a building that you pass by every day. A little piece of something that you’ve never ever seen before and you will be enchanted by its beauty.

I’ve been taking photos with my phone of doorways in Loisaida and this will be the first post of an ongoing series because the doorways change. Graffiti comes and graffiti goes. People are big on the embelishment of doorways in this neighborhood. Like the storefront gate murals, many doorways are a canvas.

When I made wheat paste glue from scratch last week to make venetian plaster, I was reminded of the street posters that were the way that local artists and musicians advertised before email became the norm. Friends would call for assistance and we would hit the streets at night armed with posters, a bucket of wheat paste and a brush. We called it scumming. The messages change but the street poster will never die.

In late 2009 the New York City Council voted to phase out the metal roll-down gates that cover storefronts all over New York City in favor of the gates that you see covering the storefronts inside malls. They say the roll-down gates invite graffitti and are “scary”. Not surprising, the “mall-ification” of New York City continues. We have many storefront gate murals in Loisaida. Luckily we have until 2026 until they are all gone.